Experiments in Education: Community Control in Boston, 1963-1974

As was true of a number of American cities across the 1960s and early 1970s, Boston’s community control movement centered on calls by Black educational activists to democratize decision-making for those schools and educational institutions serving Black communities. However, while many activists agreed on the value of the community control ideal, Black activists sought to realize community control through a variety of different institutions. Still, significant continuities existed across these various approaches to securing a quality education for Black children. Drawing on a range of archival sources, this article explores the educational thought and practice of one key group of Black educational activists fighting for community control in Boston. It argues that the ideas and values underpinning their commitment to community control embodied what the author calls Black democratic experimentalism—an approach to educational reform grounded in a commitment to experiment through deliberative, democratic institutions. In surfacing Black democratic experimentalism, this article aims to highlight vital continuities in Black educational activism across the 1960s and early 1970s.